Season opener in Mexico City
At the season opener in Mexico City, Australia’s Clinton Moore stunned the field to claim his first Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour win. New Zealand’s Levi Sherwood finished second and Thomas Pagès of France completed the podium in front of a sold-out crowd of 38,000.
MEXICO CITY (Mexico) – Clinton Moore was on the hunt for his first Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour podium, and in Mexico on Friday night he got that and more. A sold-out crowd of 38,000 gave the Australian the ovation of a lifetime as he stood on top of the podium ahead of three former World Tour champions, New Zealand’s Levi Sherwood in second, Frenchman Thomas Pagès in third, and Dany Torres of Spain in fourth.
In six previous starts in the world’s most prestigious freestyle motocross series, the inked Aussie had always shown potential, but he’d never made it past the Quarter Finals. This year, he put all his big tricks, like the Bundy body varial and a Flair off the quarter pipe, into the same run – and that made the difference. He beat Sherwood, who wrote history by landing the first Transfer Flip ever done in competition, by the narrowest of margins.
The event marked the ten-year anniversary of Red Bull X-Fighters in Mexico City, and the level of the tricks exceeded anything ever seen in the Monumental Plaza de Toros. Moore, 26, said, “I knew I finally made it when I saw the confetti coming down. I’m in heaven.”
The 2015 Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour continues in Athens, Greece (12 June), Madrid, Spain (10 July), Pretoria, South Africa (12 September), and the United Arab Emirates (30 October).
The replay of Red Bull X-Fighters Mexico City is available on redbullxfighters.com and Red Bull TV. Red Bull TV is available on connected TVs, gaming consoles, mobile devices, and more. For a full list of supported devices, visit about.redbull.tv.
Red Bull X-Fighters Mexico City Final Results:
1. Clinton Moore (AUS), Levi Sherwood (NZL), 3. Thomas Pagès (FRA), 4. Dany Torres (ESP), 5. Rémi Bizouard (FRA), 6. Adam Jones (USA), 7. Javier Villegas (CHI), 8. Brody Wilson (USA), 9. Jeremy Rouanet (FRA), 10. Harry Bink (AUS), 11. Erick Ruiz (MEX), 12. Mat Rebeaud (SUI)
Pictures: Predrag Vuckovic, Joerg Mitter, Sebastian Marko
Additional Rider Quotes:
- Clinton Moore has never made it into a Red Bull X-Fighters semi final, even though everybody knew he was capable of a podium finish. Tonight he has proven that he is able to not only pull one clean run, but three rund with his amazing arsenal of tricks together, taking home his first ever win. „It is such an amazing feeling being up there and knowing to have won. I had a bad start here last year and was hoping to make top five this year, but now I am number one! Words can’t describe that! Everybody was telling me in the past that I just have to put one solid run in and that was my focus for this event. I finally did it, that is what I keep telling to myself, I finally did it! My dream is reality now. With this win I will just try to stay focused and continue to bring consistent runs for the rest of the year. Last year I had too much pressure with bringing new tricks, so this year I will just try to bring my A-game and make it smooth and see what happens. This is what has happened and I came number one.
- Levi Sherwood premiered his new trick, the Transfer Flip, off the quarterpipe and stepped it up in the final with a onehanded transfer flip. „It was awesome out there, I liked the course, flowed good and it is the first time in a long time that I felt like I could not have ridden much better. I am pretty bummed with second place though, but I can only go on to the next round. My new trick is not really a new trick, more a new jump that I introduced into FMX. That is what I hope to bring this year and over the next years: to slowly open up the courses and make it a bit different.“
- Tom Pagès had to deal with fever on qualification day, but felt better today. „ Because of the altitude and lack of power in the bike I could not do my new trick, the Alley Oop Flair, here. I really enjoyed riding for the first time in a long time since I had no stress with a new best trick. The season is long and my new trick will come soon. And Clinton was the best rider today, so it is okay that he kicked me out in the semifinals.“
- Dany Torres showed the Rock Solid Backflip for the first time in competition, but two little mistakes in the semifinals kept his chances for the final low. „I am really happy with the result since I still feel not 100%. But I feel really comfortable with this track and my new bike, the two-stroke. I am also happy about my Rock Solid Backflip, even though it was not a big one. After my mistake I knew it was difficult to beat Levi Sherwood, because I think he is the best rider right now.“
- Remi Bizouard lost the quarter final versus Dany Torres by only 0.1 points in the energy category, the tightest decision of the event. „My week in Mexico went very well, I could not get in a lot of practice before the event because of bad weather, so I rode relaxed and tried to do the best. I am happy with 5th place. Dany has a big name here and the crowd here loves him. Now it’s a while until the next stop and I will get some good practice in.“
- Adam Jones served a great package of his technical, well extended tricks. „I felt like I did ride really good, shoveled a little in the beginning, but pulled it together in the end. I wish we could get in more than only six runs in a run, but I did everything that I wanted to do. Facing Tom Pagès I knew that was the end of the night for me, but that is fine for me since he keeps progressing the sport. I am happy to have made the finals and deliver a good run.“
- Javier Villegas finished 7th for the third time in Mexico in his competition comeback after two bad injuries. „It seems to become a tradition here in Mexico that I finish in 7th place. I have not been in a competition for more than one year now and I am happy to be back with the best in the world. I am happy that I made it straight into the finals and my tricks have been better than ever, but everyone else improved a lot, so it is getting harder and harder.“
- Brody Wilson advanced through the first round by winning it. „This has been my best experience in Red Bull X-Fighters by far, I never made it into the head-to-head before. And this crowd is just amazing! After advancing to the quarterfinals I gave it my best, but kinda knew this would not be enough against Levi. But I am happy with my final run and find I represented myself very well.“
- Jeremy Rouanet just missed advancing to the quarter finals by 0.1 points, but celebrated a personal trick premiere. „It was the first event for me this year and it was crazy, because the bike did not work as I am used to because of the altitude. But I managed to land my first ever Superman Flair to dirt today, so it was a good experience. I decided to do it as my first trick and it was so scary, but it went well, so after it the pressure was away.“
- Harry Bink rode his second ever competition, the first with a real run, and amazed with a big variety of tricks including a big doublegrab backflip in the first round. „It definitely took my breathe away riding into the arena with all these crazy fans! I was happy with my riding and felt like I did the best that I could with my run. I am definitely not worried about this experience. The biggest thing I have learned is probably riding a bike with a stock rear shock – since mine got removed out of my luggage on the flight to Mexico – and adjust to the altitude. I also learned not to drink the water out of the tab, because that will put you to bed for a couple of days…“
- Local Hero Erick Ruiz crashed on a Volt attempt in the qualification, so decided to keep it on two wheels for the competition. „I wanted to try a new Volt combo, but crashed yesterday. My body is hurting but I could not throw the towel in front of my people. Sometimes it is good to go big, sometimes it is better to stay safe, which I decided to do today, because I had a couple of injuries in the past two years.“
- Mat Rebeaud: The 2008 Red Bull X-Fighters champion crashed during an attempt of the California Roll in his first qualification run and did not start the competition.
The next event will take place on June 12th in Athens, Greece.
